When you are thinking of cutting your food budget, having extremely budget friendly pantry staples is probably one of the BEST places to start.
With the staples we listed below, you can literally make any type of meal, without having to justify the need to eat dinner out because you were out of ingredients.
We love food in our house – it is no secret that I love to cook. I love to bake. I read about food, I do a lot of self study about real food, and I truly think that real, quality food is one of the best ways to whip yourself into better shape.
Truth be told though, I don’t like to shop for food. Thankfully I don’t have to do that! Combined with local resources, and the ability to buy in bulk on Amazon, I really haven’t had the need to visit the grocery store since last year. As random as that sounds, it’s the truth – and there is no better feeling than being able to get away with not visiting. I don’t think many others could do that.
Meal planning in our house is easy – it revolves around our CSA bag. Combined with pantry staples, below, we really have a different meal every night – eating out as a family of 7 is expensive, y’all.
Here are some of the most Essential Pantry Staples for Cooks on an Extreme Budget.
Organic Steel Cut Oats: These are great for breakfast ~ you can pick up relatively inexpensive on Amazon and they last for quite a while. Make Steel Cut Oats in your Instant Pot the night before to have breakfast ready for the kids the next morning, or make enough to last you a few days so you can just reheat each morning.
Quinoa: This is a must for us ~ it’s great to have on hand for dinner and cooks in the Instant Pot in just one minute (compared to 20 minutes on the stove). Dress up with veggies or, nuts or serve as is.
Chicken Broth / Veggie Broth: A must if you make as many soups as we do! Pick up a pack of 6 Organic Chicken Broth for $12 at Costco and always have some on hand when you whip up dinner. You can use broth in broccoli soup, potato soup, celery soup, carrot soup & more – if you don’t make your own this is a great low-cost alternative.
Lentils (Red, Green or Brown): Such a cheap pantry staple – and so versatile to use in salads, soups and other dishes. These cook in 15 minutes or less in the Instant Pot and are a great alternative to meat in terms of protein if you are looking to sustain a plant-based diet. Buy them in bulk at Vitacost along with your flour and they will occasionally send you additional coupon savings. Barbecue Lentils are one of our favorite recipes.
Dried Beans (Pinto, Navy, Northern, Chickpeas): Not only do these cook relatively quickly in the Instant Pot, they are great to have as a meal – combined with Lentils, or, with rice, or even in salads. You can use them to make vegetarian chili, or your own hummus.
Cornmeal: This is great to have at home – not only can you use it to whip up cornmeal bread or muffins, you can use it to prepare homemade pizza, or for many casserole dishes. Pick up the Organic Cornmeal on Amazon for a great price in bulk.
Organic Pasta: Pasta is one of those items that’s great for last minute meals – combine with spinach for spinach infused pasta, or, with pesto for an easy Pesto Pasta.
Organic Pasta Sauce: This can be used not only for pasta, but in lieu of pizza sauce for homemade pizza, a quick sauce over pasta for the kids for dinner or even for a dipping sauce if you make your own homemade breadsticks. Or opt to make your own Marinara Sauce in your Instant Pot.
Organic Brown Rice: Pick up a huge bag at Costco for just over $1 per pound, and use this as a compliment to your Lentil dishes, mixed with veggies for a fast, healthy dinner or, with a little butter as a light meal before you go to bed. The Instant Pot makes brown rice in just under 25 minutes with the push of a single button.
Coconut Milk: A can of this can thicken soups, plus it’s great in rice or even in desserts. Buy the Organic Coconut Milk on Amazon for a great price and avoid making a trip to the store.
Flour (Organic Whole Wheat & Organic All Purpose Unbleached): We go through a LOT of flour! We buy ours 15-20 bags at a time in bulk and it helps us with our baking (everything made by hand). Use the flour to make tortillas, Naan Bread, regular bread, rolls, muffins & more. Making sure you buy Organic flour is extremely important – even more, if you are buying white flour, always go for Unbleached.
Yeast: We go through quite a bit of yeast but we make all of our own breads – one of the best places to buy yeast is Costco, they sell the Red Star for just under $5 for a huge bag. You can keep some in the freezer and some in the pantry.
Spices: Some of the spices we always try to keep on hand include Turmeric, Paprika, Curry, Coriander, Cumin, Pepper, Salt, and Garlic. We try to buy those in bulk, too.
Organic Flaxseed: Buy a bag at a time, and incorporate in your baked goods, homemade granola bars, or even your smoothies or milkshakes each morning. It’s great for both you and your children. You can also use as an egg replacement in recipes, too.
Raw Honey: Great to have as a natural sweetener in lieu of sugar. Use it to sweeten your tea, make your own wellness tea or even immune boosting syrup. We buy ours locally ($150 for a 5 gallon bucket).
Chia Seed: A superfood – use them in oatmeal, salads, smoothies, yogurt, or as an egg substitute. They are plum full of fiber, antioxidants, omega 3’s & more. They are also great for hydration – but keep in mind that most are imported. Look for Organic Chia Seeds on Amazon.
Coconut Oil: Not just a dietary staple but for personal care. You can use Coconut Oil to whip up your own Beach Cream, to use in Oil Pulling, your own skin lotion, in baked goods or even when you saute your vegetables. It’s important to know the difference between refined and unrefined Coconut Oil.
Peanut Butter: Our kids don’t go too wild for Peanut Butter, but we always have a jar in the pantry. Costco has a relatively great price on Organic Peanut Butter in Bulk.
(Some of you might wonder why we don’t have canned products here – we will occasionally buy, but we don’t regularly. We try to cook largely from what we have as fresh, and we have concerns about using and relying on canned).
Here are some additional ways we save:
- We don’t buy paper towels – at all. It’s been years, and probably 8 – 10 if not more since I have had rolls in my house. We use cloth towels and I wash them every other day.
- We don’t buy detergent, we make our own or use Young Living Thieves Detergent – one bottle of Thieves Detergent lasts me 6 weeks (10-12 loads a week).
- We spend $50 per week on Raw Dairy (Milk).. you won’t find Almond, Soy or Coconut in our home. We believe that Raw Dairy is worth every bit of the cost – it’s far better than processed dairy and although we are not lactose intolerant, it’s great for those who are. We use that raw dairy to make our own yogurt.
- We make ALL of our baked goods – muffins, breads, pizza crusts, flatbread Naan, and even tortillas. That way I control the flour (organic, unbleached and unenriched or organic whole wheat) and avoid all those fillers that are found in store varieties. During the school year we buy Dave’s Killer Bread for lunches (ONLY) at Costco – we use approximately 1 loaf every week.
- No juice, or soda, no boxed snacks – not only are these items full of sugar, they are empty calories. You won’t find any bottles in our pantry.
- No boxed cereals for breakfast – we do hard boiled eggs or organic steel cut oats. The kids love both equally.
- We buy cheese in bulk at Costco – Organic Gouda Cheese is available there. I find that when we buy this my kids are less likely to blow through cheese when it’s quality.
- During the school year we buy organic lunch meat at Costco – it runs $14 and lasts us 2 weeks for all of the kids. Each child gets a half sandwich at lunch, along with fruit, a muffin and usually a bell pepper, couple of carrots or cherry tomatoes.
- We invest in a CSA weekly ($25) – this is a must for us. While we might be able to get things cheaper at the grocery store, we value the CSA more because it’s local, supporting a farmer who has the same ideals in mind as we do. We base our meals around this bag (and ONLY this bag).. and it works well for us. Our kids love and eat everything and anything.
Other ways we save:
- I shop at Vitacost and Amazon for bulk items (organic flour, cornmeal and molasses).
- We make our own health and beauty items – that goes for shampoo, mouthwash, lotion, body wash and more.
- We drink milk (Raw) or water – sounds boring, but it works perfect for us.
- We don’t clothes shop – we use hand me downs and the only person we buy for is my oldest daughter (9), and her stuff comes from Schoola – online.
- We avoid the grocery store completely and shop at Costco in bulk for pantry staples, invest in our CSA weekly and our farm for Raw Milk weekly. It’s rare for us to eat meat, but if we do, Organic Chicken comes from Costco and lasts us weeks (if not months), we will occasionally pick up a single pound of Organic, Pastured Ground Beef — twice a month if not less.
Debating between getting conventional and Organic? Read our last post to make that decision for your own family.
Although some of these items may seem to take a while to cook, they really don’t take all too long if you have an Instant Pot. You can whip up a batch of Brown Rice in the Instant Pot in a matter of minutes… Quinoa takes 1 minute in the Instant Pot (which is GREAT considering it takes 20 minutes on the stove!)
Whew! There are probably many other ways to save – that is what helps our family of 6 (soon to be 7!)
What ways do you save on real food?